Kathmandu: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has directed the Ministry of Finance to formulate a substantive proposal for the systematic resolution of issues faced by depositors in financial cooperatives. Thousands of depositors have recently encountered challenges, prompting the Prime Minister to emphasize the urgency of addressing the problems.

During an interaction at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Monday, Prime Minister Prachanda instructed the Finance Ministry to submit a well-thought-out proposal for taking concrete measures to alleviate the difficulties faced by cooperatives. He highlighted the plight of hundreds of thousands of depositors who are left stranded due to the unresolved problems within the cooperative sector.

In a prior meeting, the Prime Minister had consulted with the Finance Ministry and the National Planning Commission to initiate significant changes in the government's policy and program, as well as the budget's format and process.

According to the PM's secretariat, the meeting aimed to gather input from stakeholders for revising the format and schedule of the upcoming fiscal year's government policy and program and budget.

Additionally, the Prime Minister urged officials not to set the budget ceiling based on speculations and emphasized giving priority to the completion of existing projects over introducing irrelevant new plans. Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, National Planning Commission Vice Chairman Dr. Min Bahadur Shrestha, Commission Member Dr. Ram Kumar Phuyal, and Chief Secretary Dr. Baikuntha Aryal assured the PM that they would adhere to his directives and government decisions.